Enormous Thanks (Manta Fund Raiser)

Many Hands Make Light Work.

Last week, three marine conservation organisations came together to bring about a memorable night in the company of Martin Clunes to watch his documentary about the beauty of manta rays and also the threats that they face from increasing targetted activity from fishermen.
After the screening in stunning BluRay, Martin was interviewed by writer Tim Ecott. Mr Clunes was a superb laugh as we would all expect, and the mood was set for the ensuing raffle and Auction which raised an unexpectedly generous amount; a shade over eight thousand pounds.
It is often telling on all of our characters when we see daily, the negative impact of human activity on our oceans. On the night of the 24th March 2011 it was particularly encouraging to see the positive energy brought to the May Fair cinema to do something positive.
Bite Back, The Marine Megafauna Foundation and the Pacific Elasmobranch Foundation all greatly appreciate your support at this event and for our work.

We would like to especially thank: The May Fair Hotel, All of our sponsors who are all listed on the link below, as well as Jamie Watts who donated his beautiful marine life artwork, and of course, Martin Clunes and Tim Ecott for their valuable time on the night.

See the Thank You mailer Here

Martin Clunes Manta Fundraiser

Today sees the official launch of the Martin Clunes fund raising evening that will take place on the 24th March 2011 at The May Fair Hotel in London. Martin kindly offered to attend an event to raise funds for our research and so we can now proudly offer a night of cinema at The May Fair's private screening room for an exclusive viewing of Man to Manta.
I have built a site especially for the event and you can find more about it, as well as buy tickets at The Official Website.

Mantas Behaving Badly

Oh dear! I couldn't think of a better title, which just goes to show how much I watch TV these days. I had the pleasure of meeting Martin Clunes last week, when he came to interview me as part of his next natural world documentary called Man To Manta. He was part of a team that arrived to shoot my work here as well as feature my best manta buddy Andrea Marshall, who was with us to satellite tag some of our rays as part of her worldwide study on Manta birostris.
True to any animal that gets to go on TV, the mantas refused to turn up for the cameras and in a show of defiance, left our study area for about five days. To be honest I was pretty happy with that as it adds to the mysterious awe they eminate when we do get to see them, and I hope the guys get to do that justice when they get in the editing suit. Man to Manta is due to air on the 2nd of January on ITV.
As for our mantas, they turned up again a couple of days ago and I will blog again soon with and update on how we are doing.
A pretty terrible photo of me, but a decent one of the other two..! Credit: unknown.